No one wants a single mother, says lovelorn Nicole

Actor Nicole Kidman says she cannot find a man because she is a single mother.

The Australian star said her age and the fact she had two children put off prospective suitors.

"I'm hoping to meet someone and be happy with them. But that's not as easy as it sounds. I'm a 37-year-old woman with two children. Men aren't beating a path to my door," she told Now magazine.

"I don't want to sound like a woman from a lonely hearts club and I don't want to advertise. The children are my priority. I take them around with me - movies or baseball games or local shows - and that's not so appealing for any new man on the scene, is it?"

The Oscar winner has been single since splitting from rocker Lenny Kravitz.

She denied rumours she was getting back together with ex-husband Tom Cruise, with whom she split in 2001.

The pair share custody of their children, aged 11 and nine.

"That whole part of my life is over and done with. We'll always be in contact because of our children," she said.

"But I'm single and there's no one out there for me at the moment."

Kidman, soon to be seen in the remake of The Stepford Wives, was also keen to dash rumours about her weight.

In recent months she has been photographed looking thin, prompting worries for her health.

But Kidman said it was her hairstyles that created the illusion of her being too thin.

"I've been wearing it up a lot lately and that seems to make my face look smaller and make my body look even thinner," she said.

"When I wear it down - particularly if I've been made up for a film or premiere or something - then my boy-like figure looks a little fuller. That's the only explanation I can come up with."

She said she ate plenty of cheese, cakes and chocolate and enjoyed drinking red wine.

"I've had this long, lean body shape since my teens. I can't do anything about it.

"If I had my way, I'd be smaller, more shapely, have straight hair and bigger breasts. But I have to carry on with what I've been given," she said.